Boulder vs. Jefferson County: an ideological feud

Leaders still divided over land issues after decades-long dispute

Plans by Jefferson County to construct a 10-mile toll road from Broomfield to Arvada have continued the long-running ideological wedge between Jeffco and Boulder officials.

Jeffco officials have openly said that development is the key to economic growth for their county, which does not have a general sales tax and must instead rely on growth to increase revenue.

Boulder leaders, on the other hand, rarely hide their general disdain for urban sprawl. The city's charter contains a written mandate that the point of acquiring open space is, in part, to keep growth in check.

Plans for the Jefferson Parkway toll road and related development have been perhaps the biggest sticking points between the two governments for decades.

The feud began in the mid-1990s, when Jefferson County and Arvada began working with a group of landowners on a vision for a massive mixed-use development called the Jefferson Center.

The center, as envisioned, would have covered 18,000 acres, or about 28 square miles. That's larger than the city of Boulder, which is about 25 square miles.

To block the development, Boulder in 1999 swooped in and bought 1,500 acres of private property for $8.75 million, turning it into the Jewel Mountain open space in northern Jefferson County. The property is northwest of the intersection of Colo. 93 and Colo. 72.

"We really put a knife in the heart of that development so that it could never happen," said Boulder Councilwoman Lisa Morzel, who has fought for decades to preserve the Colo. 93 corridor and Rocky Flats as open space.

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The deal incensed Jeffco officials.

Then-county administrator Ron Holliday wrote a letter to Boulder asking the city manager to "step aside" and stop angling to buy "key properties" south of Colo. 72. Other Jeffco and Arvada officials offered backhanded compliments to Boulder, saying they were happy to see Boulder pay for land that will benefit their residents and increase property values of future homes.

Now, more than a decade later, the proposed alignment of the Jefferson Parkway seems to have stoked the simmering conflict.

The road would directly service Candelas -- a 1,500-acre development just south of the Boulder County border along Colo. 93 that happens to be where part of the Jefferson Center would have gone.

Preserving a square-mile of land directly north of Candelas has become part of Jeffco's strategy to negotiate an end to Boulder's opposition to the parkway. Jeffco likes the deal because it removes Boulder as a possible barrier to getting the road built. Boulder likes the deal because it could help prevent Candelas or other development from creeping northward.

But the prospect of finally reaching a compromise hasn't set aside years of contentious relations, and a set of letters quietly exchanged last year points to continuing tensions.

Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne and City Manager Jane Brautigam wrote in a letter dated Feb. 9 that the "long-running conflict over transportation and open space" has "consumed considerable resources and obstructed what should be productive collaboration among neighboring communities."

The letter goes on to ask the commissioners to engage in mediation over transportation and open space issues related to the parkway deal.

Jeffco responded bluntly, saying there was no need for mediation.

"Turning some of Jefferson County's relatively rare industrial property into open space because of the desire of citizens outside Jefferson County would be irresponsible and a significant disservice to Jefferson County taxpayers," all three county commissioners wrote in a March 5 letter.

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